The invention relates generally to welding power supplies, and, more particularly, to constant voltage welding process power supplies.
Welding is a process that has become increasingly ubiquitous in various industries and applications. While such processes may be automated in certain contexts, a large number of applications continue to exist for manual welding operations, which often rely on the use of control loops to regulate the welding process. For instance, many constant voltage (CV) welding processes rely on standard CV control loops to regulate processes that use self shielded flux cored wires. A typical CV controller modifies the current output of the power supply to generate a relatively constant voltage output. Accordingly, in high voltage instances (e.g., high voltage when coming out of a short circuit), traditional CV controllers ramp down the current to accommodate the high voltage. However, in high voltage instances, such controllers may decrease the current to current levels that disadvantageously have the effect of extinguishing the welding arc. Accordingly, there exists a need for improved CV control loops that maintain a constant voltage level without extinguishing the welding arc.